


CA: TWS Bias Film Analysis

by wastedandalone



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anchoring Bias, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Psychology, Written for a Class, film analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastedandalone/pseuds/wastedandalone
Summary: A short essay I wrote for a class on the anchoring bias Steve Rogers presents in The Winter Soldier movie.
Kudos: 3





	CA: TWS Bias Film Analysis

For the film analysis, I chose the movie  _ Captain America: The Winter Soldier _ . This movie is set after Captain America is found in the ice and gets involved as an Avenger with S.H.I.E.L.D. His best friend, Bucky Barnes, has been presumed dead after a US Army mission gone wrong in World War II. Steve Rogers (Captain America) has managed to retain all his memories after being frozen for nearly seven decades. This is the baseline for one of the main conflicts in  _ The Winter Soldier _ . As it turns out, HYDRA has captured and brainwashed Bucky, gave him a cybernetic metal arm and a new name: the Winter Soldier. His HYDRA handlers have ordered him to kill Captain America, a mission which he fails. Most of the on-screen appearances have the Winter Soldier in goggles and/or a mask, obscuring most of his face. However, during one particular fight scene between Steve and a couple other characters, Steve manages to throw the Winter Soldier, a move that causes the mask to come off. When brainwashed Bucky stands, Steve immediately recognizes him, and says, “Bucky?” This is when the anchoring bias sets in for Steve. Later on in the movie, during the last fight between the Winter Soldier and Captain America, this anchoring bias is the most prominent. The Winter Soldier is working on killing Steve again, but instead of fighting him off like Steve has been trained to do, he accepts the beating and tells Bucky, “I’m not gonna fight you. You’re my friend.” Steve is recalling the times when Bucky was his best friend, not the Winter Soldier. Despite the fact that this is an entirely new person in front of him, his experiences in a past life have anchored him to this idea that Bucky is still his best friend. He can’t grasp the fact that the person he once knew is no longer there; it’s just a shell of a man used as a killing machine. Steve did nothing to overcome the biases. He didn’t want to. He was too focused on the fact that his best friend was still alive. Maybe if someone had briefed him on who the Winter Soldier was, he wouldn’t have been so shocked. However, since Steve woke up in a world he’d never seen before, maybe he was holding out hope that he’d have someone to share all these new experiences with if Bucky “came to” and remembered him. There’s not really a clear path to overcoming the anchoring bias because they were so close before and during the war, and all of the sudden that’s just changed. Bucky was and still is Steve’s rock. He wants to believe that somewhere deep down, the Bucky he once knew is still in there, and that’s what causes Steve to succumb to the Winter Soldier so easily. 


End file.
